


Swing and a...

by coffeebuddha



Series: Noir AU [2]
Category: Castle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Noir, First Meetings, Gen, Genderswap, Love at First Sight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-03
Updated: 2012-04-03
Packaged: 2017-11-03 00:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/374874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeebuddha/pseuds/coffeebuddha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Javier moves to the city two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swing and a...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mb_jazz_freak87](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mb_jazz_freak87).



Javier moves to the city two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday. Well, no, that's not wholly accurate. Javier's parents move to the city two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday. Javier is dragged along against his will, barely refraining from kicking and screaming. They're here because the farm dried up and it's the only place his dad can find work, which Javier intellectually understands, but he _hates it_ __and the only thing stopping him from hitching his way back home and begging the Lowells to take him on as a farmhand is the pinched, resolute look that's settled unhappily on his mama's face.  
  
They arrive at the height of summer, the heat sticky and oppressive in a way that makes him long for dust.  
  
When they pull up, a group of kids are playing stickball in the street outside their new apartment building. A girl is just stepping up to bat. She's like no girl he's ever seen before; her light brown hair is pulled back in a messy braid and her too big clothes should by all rights be on a boy. Even the farmers' daughters wore dresses when they did their chores. It's probably a city thing, he decides as he climbs out of the truck--it's already been sold to the Lowells, but Mr Lowell is letting them use it for the move since he and dad go so far back--and the girl swings.  
  
She connects with the ball with a solid _crack_ , and Javier has enough time to hear the little girl on the stoop scream out, "Woo, Kev!" and watch the truly beautiful arch the ball makes before it slams right into his head.  
  
When he comes to, his mama is kneeling next to him with his head cradled in her lap, his dad is yelling at a sandy haired man who's giving back just as good as he gets, and the girl--'Kev', apparently--is standing by his feet with her head cocked to the side and her hands on her hips.  
  
"Ow," he says, and the girl rolls her eyes. (There's a furrow between her eyebrows that he'll later learn is usually reserved for when she's fretting over her little sister, but he thinks he can be forgiven for missing the significance under the circumstances.)  
  
"If you have time to watch it coming at you, you have time to duck out of the way," she says philosophically. Javier has the feeling that he's being judged and found wanting.  
  
" _Ow_ ," he repeats, because it bears repeating.  
  
"Oh, you'll be fine," Kev insists, kicking gently at his ankle. "When you're feeling better, you should grab a mitt and come join us." She pauses and a wicked grin spreads across her face, her blue eyes dancing. "I mean, we already know you can catch."  
  
And that's how it happens that two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday, Javier's forced to move to the city, nearly gets a concussion, and falls in love.


End file.
